Memories
by Misha-Rest
Summary: by: Rowena... SasuSaku AU. He accidentally punched her and... well, everything changed.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Naruto is not, cannot, and will not be mine.

Before anything else, I would like you to know that this story isn't mine. It came from way, way, way back and was left aside. I figured that it would be nice to share it to everyone else. So, here it is! I hope you enjoy reading.

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"Hey, move it you freak!"

I stepped aside, allowing the person to pass through. I didn't need to rack my brain to figure out who it was. I didn't even need to look up to know who it was, because it was always the same person, dragging a whole bunch of girls who made up his fan club.

His stupid fan club.

The one and only, Uchiha Sasuke.

I averted my gaze from them and fixed my attention onto the floor. I could hear a few of the girls snickering at me as they passed by.

I stared after them in distaste. What was it about him that everyone found so attractive? Although he was good-looking, with perfectly chiseled features and a deep set of obsidian eyes to go with, he was probably one of the meanest and rudest person that I ever had the misfortune of knowing. And yet, tons and tons of girls were practically on their knees begging him to bring them out on a date. Granted, he was rich, but whatever happened to the old-fashioned way of falling in love with his personality and his heart rather than his wealth and looks? I shrugged. It was none of my business anyway.

I headed to class, my hands overflowing with books. The moment I set foot inside the classroom, the atmosphere became silent. The chattering all died down as I placed my books on top of my desk, located at the back of the room.

"So, Sakura, I've always wanted to ask you. Is that sweater you're wearing specially made for you or did you get it from the reject shop?" Karin asked as the whole class burst out in laughter.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. This was getting old. Every morning, it was the same thing. I sat down on my seat and attempted to arrange my books into my desk, all the time ignoring their sarcastic remarks. Personally, I don't know what made everyone hate me so much. Maybe it was because of my abnormally large forehead and not to mention my bizarre pink hair, but I never did anything to hurt them, At least none that I could think of. But I didn't mind being alone. In fact, I kind of liked it.

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The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Chairs scrapped on the floor as they were pushed backwards by the students hurrying to get to the cafeteria before all the nice foods are sold out. Azuma-sensei raised his voice to be heard over the noise.

"Remember, I want a thousand word essay on the conflict between Iraq and Afghanistan by tomorrow."

Groans were heard from every corner as everyone exited the class. I put away my books slowly. I didn't have to rush for time. I hardly ate the school food and I always had no difficulty getting a table. In fact, I'm beginning to think that the table right at the corner, where I usually sit, is always reserved for me, seeing as how nobody ever sits there.

The cafeteria was filled with an excited buzz when I entered. I could hear snippets of people's conversations around me.

"… who is he?"

"… doesn't look familiar at all. He isn't even in our uniform!"

"… he's good-looking…"

"… what's he doing here?"

I was curious but did not want to ask anybody, lest they might freak out and blow up at me because I had just touched their expensive, imported cardigan from Armani.

I froze in my tracks on the way to my usual table. Instead of it being empty, there were now three people, guys to be exact, seated there, with trays of food on the table. I looked around the cafeteria for a spare table, which was empty but found none. I groaned inwardly. There was nothing that I can do, except go up to them and see if they would allow me to sit with them. Unless I was mistaken, they probably wouldn't if they had already heard those rotten rumors going around about me, which I was sure the people in this school would only be happy to indulge with.

As I headed over to them slowly, dreading every second, the guy in the dark blue long-sleeved shirt looked at me and grinned. I took me half a second to realize who it was before I was running towards him and crushing him in a large bear hug.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much to the first two readers who reviewed! I'm pretty much still new to this so, you, leaving a review, made me so happy. Well, actually, a little _too_ happy. Cheers to you! Here's the next chapter!

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I laughed in glee as I finally let go of him. How could I have not notice the unmistakable mass of silver hair?

"Kakashi-niisan! When did you come back? How come you never told me anything about it?" I said in delight.

"I just reached this morning. And how's my little sister doing?" he smiled as he rapped me lightly on the nose.

"Fine. Thanks," I giggled.

"Someone seems to be forgetting about me…"

I turned to look at the guy with spiky brown hair in the gray shirt. My mouth dropped open as recognition dawned on me.

"Yamato-niisan!" I ran around the table to give him a hug. "What brings you here?"

"Took you a while to recognize me, eh?" he exhaled a sigh and looked heavenwards. "Forgotten all about little old me huh? I'm hurt. Hurt that you didn't think of me all this time, whereas I kept thinking of you."

I knocked his forehead lightly. "Did you forget to take your medication again? You're talking gibberish."

As I proceeded to sit down, I finally realized that there was another person, with spiky yellow hair and three whisker-like marks on both cheeks, who has kept silent all this while. He looked like my age and was grinning widely while fixing his eyes on me, which I noticed were the brightest shade of blue. I gave him a small smile and gazed questioningly, first at my brother, then at Yamato-niisan.

"Oh, this is my cousin, Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, meet Sakura. I'm sure you'll get along well since she's also quite hyper, has a man crushing hug, and a very bad temper…" faltered Yamato-niisan as I gave him the evil eye.

I grinned at Naruto and extended my hand towards him. "Hi Naruto. Nice to mee―!" I wasn't able to finish what I was about to say, as Naruto suddenly was pulled me into a hug.

"Sakura-chan! I've heard so much about you and I've wanted to meet you personally! I've always imagined you to be a cute girl, not that you're not cute because you are! It's just that I imagined you to be a girl, _girl_, not a girl, _GIRL_. Anyways, now that we've met, I hope that we can become good friends, Sakura-chan. Wait. I can call you _Sakura-chan_, right?" Naruto said without pausing in between and letting me go.

I was shocked but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. This person is weird, but he's got this welcoming aura that makes it hard not to like him. Strangely, the hug felt comfortable.

"Oi! Stop harassing my sister!" I heard Kakashi-niisan say.

Naruto must have heard him because he released me from his hug but kept his grip on both my shoulders. "Right?" he asked, still wearing a huge grin.

"Of course." I answered as I matched his huge grin.

"I knew you'd get along!" Yamato-niisan butted in.

"Don't ever listen to a word he says. He talks rubbish most of the time." I said, eyeing Yamato-niisan.

Naruto joined me in eyeing him. "So that's it! I always knew there was something wrong with him."

We both burst into laughter.

"There's a reason why he's here you know," continued Yamato-niisan, clearing his throat. "He'll be studying here with you, while we settle down here."

"You're moving here? For real?" I was beside myself with joy.

"Yes. We're moving here. For real."

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My brother and Yamato-niisan had left us after we were introduced so that we could get to know each other better.

"So," began Naruto. "Where are your friends?"

I winced. I knew this was coming.

"There's something that I need to tell you but first, you have to promise me that you would not breathe a single word to anybody else, especially not to my brother."

He gave me a quizzical look. "All right. I promise."

I took a deep breath. "You see, I don't really have any friends here." I could see his expression become one of surprise. "I'm not sure why either, maybe it's because I have a rotten attitude or something. I honestly have no idea. It's just that people always shunned me ever since I first came here. I guess they didn't like the idea of a new face amongst all of them. But I'm all right with the whole thing. I don't really mind actually. And you can always go around making friends. You don't have to worry about me at all." I gave him a small smile.

He looked at me for a few moments. "Why don't you want your brother to know about it? If you're not happy, you can always change schools."

I fidgeted with the hem of my skirt. "I don't want him to worry about me more than he does now. He's probably got a lot of things to do, what with managing a whole company at the young age of 24. He does not need the additional stress. Besides, it's been hard enough these past three years without our parents. We've managed to come so far already on our own, and I don't want it all to fall apart. I can manage it on my own. Don't worry so much."

I had kept everything bottled inside me for so long, and suddenly, I felt as though a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. Without meaning to, tears began forming in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to get rid of them. I bowed my head trying to recollect my thoughts.

For a moment, both of us were silent.

Then he smiled.

"Didn't I say that I'll be your friend?"

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"Sakura-chan!"

I raised my head and looked around me to locate who had yelled my name out so loud. Naruto ran up to me, panting. "Hey! Morning. Why'd you leave first? Wanna walk to school together?"

I looked at him dumbfounded as he gave me an adorable grin. "You want to walk to school with me? Do you know what other people might think of you? They'll probably treat you in a rotten way by not talking to you, constantly making fun of you, calling you all sorts of stupid names and…", I bit my lip and trailed off at his expression.

"Okaaaay. I get the drift, but so what? We're friends, right? And friends stick by each other no matter what. Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

With that statement, he relieved me of my schoolbag, placed it over his head, across his chest and onto his shoulder. Then he turned towards me and said, "Coming?"

For the very first time, ever since my parents died, I felt truly happy. As we walked together, side by side, I relieved him of some of his books, which he carried by hand. It was only fair after all. He helps me carry my bag and I help him carry his books.

As we talked and laughed on the way, a silver sports car, with its windows rolled down and the stereo on at full blast, passed by us. It stopped a few feet away from us, then reversed so that they were positioned right next to us.

Karin stuck her head out the window and stared straight at me, "Walking to school I see. Are you just practicing a healthy lifestyle or are you just so poor that you can't even afford to take the bus to school? If you needed to borrow some money, I'd always be glad to help. Just think of it as charity."

Sasuke, who sat at the driver's seat, just glanced over at us and smirked. Then he revved up the engine and zoomed off in a cloud of dust.

"Who the hell was that? And how come you didn't say anything back to her?" I could tell Naruto was surprised.

I gazed downwards. "They're not exactly people you want to mess with, Naruto," I said in a small voice.

"Why not?"

"It's bad enough that they're mean but they're also popular. Everyone looks up to them. They're the IT couple. And if you offend any one of them, everyone turns against you and things could get pretty ugly if that happens. Not that it'd make any difference to me, huh?" I said.

He pushed my forehead gently and gave me his signature grin. "Stop thinking stupid things. Things will look up. Trust me."

I gave him a small smile.

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

Woohoo! Hurray for the new and wonderful reviews! So as a bonus, I included a little sneak peek of what happens on the next chapter. I hope that you'll continue to read and support this story. I look forward to your reviews!

**WARNING:**

I know that some characters like Naruto, and Yamato might become quite a bit OOC. Naruto isn't _that_ mean to do that kind of stuff and Yamato isn't the fun and lovable type of person, but I need them to be like _that_ for the story. I just hope that I didn't make them a little bit too OOC. So, please tell me if they're way too out of character.

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I trudged towards my class, head bowed down, preparing myself for the hurtful remarks bound to be thrown my way the moment I enter the class.

"_Never let anyone walk over you, Sakura-chan. Be strong. Always remember that whatever happens, I'll always be here for you_." Naruto's words played over and over again in my head. Somehow, I found little comfort in his words. If only he knew what it was like for me. But I knew he meant well and that was all that mattered. I took a deep breath and entered the classroom.

"…and he was so sweet about it. He bought me flowers, a hundred red roses to be exact! Not that I was surprised, I mean, which guy would not fall for me? Of course, I had to turn him down. My Sasuke-kun wouldn't be too happy to know that I'd cheated on him, right?"

I rolled my eyes at what Karin said. A whole group of girls were sitting around her, lapping up every single thing she said while she sat, one leg crossed over the other, on the table.

"Which reminds me, it'll only be a matter of time before your precious little friend, Uzumaki Naruto, comes after me, Sakura. Keep that in mind. And if I were you, I wouldn't get too close to him, who knows, when he gets bored being friends with you, he might just dump you and that wouldn't be pretty, now would it?"

Karin stared into my eyes, her gaze piercing me. For a while, I felt myself faltering. It was no secret that almost every guy had at least fallen for Karin once. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. She had flawless features, with a fair complexion and fiery red, straight hair that had a stylish cut to compliment her. I looked away from her and began to unpack my bag. Too immersed in my own thoughts, I had failed to notice that everyone had ceased what they were doing and all their attention were now focused towards the doorway.

It wasn't until he spoke that I raised my head.

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"How long did it take for you to figure out all of this, Karin?" asked Naruto, who was leaning against the doorframe, one leg crossed over the other, with his arms folded.

"I never expected you to find out so early that I had feelings for you," he continued, walking slowly towards her. Karin shot me a triumphant smile and raised her eyebrows as if to say, '_I told you so_'. I was stunned. Stunned beyond belief. Things weren't supposed to turn out like that. I could only open and close my mouth in disbelief. All the while staring transfixed at what was happening in front of my eyes.

Naruto placed both his arms on either side of her on the table and leaned towards her while she just sat there and smiled seductively. I was so sure they were going to kiss. In fact, I was willing to bet a hundred on it. His face was just inches away from hers.

"Unfortunately, Karin, my feelings for you aren't exactly bordering on love, you know. In fact, they're pretty far from it. Sorry to disappoint you," said Naruto, pulling away in a flourish.

I blinked my eyes in confusion. Wait a minute. Did he just say what I thought I heard him say? He glanced over at me and winked. I suddenly felt an urge to laugh. Almost as if on cue, the whole class burst into applause and whistles can be heard. Well, almost the whole class, anyway. All the girls were shooting daggers at Naruto, whereas all the guys were cheering and slapping him on the back as he strolled to where I was sitting.

"Scared you, didn't I?" he asked with a goofy grin.

"Nope. Not at all. I saw it coming," I said, my face deadpan. I managed to remain expressionless for a few more seconds before I burst out laughing until tears were forming in my eyes. "You should have seen her expression! Nobody's ever rejected her before, you know, and you came and said it right in her face, you meanie!"

"So… did I do good?" he asked, laughing along with me.

"Baka! What brings you here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in the other class, which is three doors down?" I said, knocking him lightly on the head.

"Not anymore. I requested for a change of class, and now I'll be in the same class as you, Sakura-chan!" he said excitedly.

"Really? Why do you need a change of class?" I asked suspiciously.

"So that no one will mess with you! So be grateful and don't think so much!" he answered, pushing my forehead backwards.

Suddenly, an awful thought came into my mind. "Naruto! After what you did, everyone's going to treat you as trash! I knew you shouldn't have done something like that! Now you've gotten yourself in trouble!" I said, whacking him on the shoulder.

"So? She deserved it! She's got a head as big as a hot-air balloon! It's a wonder how she could have fit it through the door. And I've got nothing to worry about because you're my friend, and like what I said earlier, friends stick by each other no matter what. So through my times of hardship, you'll be there for me, right?"

"Right!" I said without hesitation.

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Surprisingly, we breezed through the first half of the day without any trouble. News about what happened had, of course, gotten out. Gossip flew around this school faster than anything. It was everyone's topic of conversation. Some of them were supportive of what Naruto had done, but some were not.

"… heard he said it right to her face…"

"… a bit cheeky of him to do it…"

"… serves her right…"

"… Sasuke won't be happy about this…"

"… he sure showed her…"

"Uh-oh, looks like I've caused a pretty big commotion, huh?" Naruto asked, as we sat our trays filled with food, down at my usual table.

"Yeah," I answered in a worried tone.

"Maybe it'll blow over in a week or so," Naruto said, trying to convince me.

"Not likely. I don't think people are just going to forget about what happened that easily. Especially not Karin or Sasuke," I said, surveying the cafeteria crowd. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" he asked.

"Nothing! Nothing at all." I smiled at him and proceeded to fill my stomach. The thing was, neither Sasuke nor Karin was at the cafeteria. And they hardly ever miss lunch breaks. Almost never. Well, only once. And that was when somebody had messed up Karin's shirt by accidentally spilling paint all over it. The poor guy had returned to school a week later with a bruised up face and a fractured arm. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened during that lunch break. But, no harm would come to Naruto, right? I gave him a small smile as he looked at me and offered some of his pie.

Right?

tbc

**NEXT CHAPTER:**

"_Dude, what happened to you?" asked Zaku, one of our classmates._

"_Oh, uh, I fell down the stairs," Naruto muttered._

"_And you dragged Sakura down with you?" piped up Dosu, looking at my jaw._

"_No! Of course I didn't!" protested Naruto. "What do you think I am? A cow?"_

"_Then what happened to your face, Sakura?" Kin questioned._

"_I walked into a door," I mumbled._

_I could hear a few snickers around me, coming from the girls. I didn't really mind that most girls had not warmed up to me yet because at least, there were some people who had started to be nicer to me._

"_Let me get this straight. You walked into a… door?" says Kin._

"_Yes," I said defiantly. "I did. Anyway, I've got to get going now." I turned away from them and sighed. I don't want them to know what really happened. What I want is for this issue to stop once and for all._


	4. Chapter 4

So, based on the reviews on the previous chapter, I take it that Naruto wasn't too OOC? Either that, or nobody bothered to read my warning… Anyway, thank you for all the reviews! You, yes I'm referring to YOU, make my day. I hope that you'll keep those reviews coming!

Personally, this chapter is my favorite one so far. Some scenes may be lousy, but this chapter pretty much signals the start of their story. I hope that you'll enjoy this as much as I did. And, I'll say it again, some characters might be OOC. No, are OOC. Enjoy!

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Trouble came in the form of a fist fight after school. We were both walking home together after school, with Naruto carrying my bag and me carrying his books. I was relieved that nothing had happened to him during the last few hours of school. I didn't mind it if it happened to me, but not to Naruto. Besides, it was my entire fault that this happened anyway. I felt considerably happier as we walked and joked around. I felt nothing could go wrong anymore for today.

Until I saw a silver sports car in the opposite direction.

Until I heard it swerve around and stop a few feet behind us.

Until I heard the car doors opening and closing and footsteps approaching us.

"Well, what have we here? If it isn't little Sakura and her precious friend."

I felt a lurch inside, as though I had just dropped twenty feet. I slowly turned around, only to come face to face with Karin and Sasuke. No surprise there.

"You didn't think you could get away with this so easily, did you? I, Atsuki Karin, have never been treated like that before. And in public too. Surely, you guys didn't expect me to let you off the hook just like that, because nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with me and gets away with it," she said.

"There's always a first, isn't there?" Naruto muttered. "I was the one who caused everything. If you want to settle anything, you do it with me. Leave Sakura out of this," he said, pulling me to stand behind him.

"Your wish is granted," said Sasuke as he grabbed Naruto by the collar. Before Naruto could react, Sasuke had punched him in the jaw causing him to drop my bag. Next, he socked Naruto in the stomach. It must have hurt a lot because Naruto doubled over, crouching on the ground. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

I watched in horror at everything that happened. Strangely enough, Naruto wasn't doing anything at all. He didn't try hitting Sasuke nor did he try on stopping him. He just stood there, silently receiving all the blows thrown at him. It must have been Naruto's way of taking all the blame, but I couldn't just stand there and let Sasuke beat him into a pulp. So before Sasuke could lay another punch, I ran forward and held his arm back in a bid to prevent it from hitting Naruto. Somehow, I must have done a pretty rotten job of holding it back because his fist connected at my jaw bone.

For a moment, everything froze.

Then I felt the pain course through me as the insides of my mouth filled with blood. Tears of pain filled my eyes as I held my jaw. "Leave him alone," I managed to choke out. I could see Karin smirking whereas Sasuke was just standing there, still as a statue.

As I looked up at him, silently pleading with him, I thought I saw something in his eyes. But it was gone in an instant. Instead, he turned towards Karin and said, "Let's go."

I helped Naruto get to his feet.

"Sakura-chan, you shouldn't have done that! Are you all right?" he asked while I supported his weight as he struggled to stand up straight.

I nodded my head. "My jaw feels a little bit off though, but other than that, I'm fine. How about you?" I gave him a head-to-toe inspection.

Naruto bowed his head and frowned. "I'm sorry I pulled you into this mess. It's all my fault. I'm sorry."

I knocked him on the head lightly. "What are you talking about? We're friends, and friends go through everything together." With that statement, I picked up the strewn books and my bag. "Do you think you can walk?" I asked with a smile.

He smiled back at me. "I'll need a little help."

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"Sakura! Naruto! What happened to the both of you?" Kakashi-niisan asked, rushing over to look at me.

"Oh, Niisan! Uhmm, we kinda got into a fight." I answered meekly.

"A fight? Of all the things you could have done, you got into a fight?" Yamato-niisan asked, taking off his shoes.

"It wasn't her fault. I started the whole thing," butt in Naruto.

"Nonsense. I had every part in it," I replied.

"What? But I was the one who said all those stuff!"

"So?"

"What do you mean, _so_?So you had no part in it!"

"Stop being so whinny, Naruto. You know very well that it was my fault too! If it weren't for me…"

All this while, both Kakashi-niisan and Yamato-niisan were observing us, their heads moving from left, then right, then left again and right again, as though watching a tennis match.

"Enough!" they both yelled out simultaneously.

We both shut up immediately and looked over at them.

"Come over here, Sakura. Let me see your jaw," my brother said, beckoning me with his hand while Yamato-niisan tended to Naruto. "That guy must have given you a punch, huh? It's all swollen!" he said, moving my head left and right, carefully inspecting my jaw. Then he lifted an ice pack that Oba-san had prepared earlier and pressed in onto the bruise.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, watch it! Not so hard!" I whined.

"What happened anyway?" he asked.

I was silent. How was I going to explain the whole situation without him finding out what I was going through in school? Luckily, Naruto was quick to come up with something.

"I kind of offended some snob in school and while he was… uhm… hitting me, Sakura-chan decided to be a heroine and blocked one of his blows."

"Heroine? I was not trying to be a heroine! You were being beaten into a pulp! What was I supposed to do? Just stand and wait 'til it's over? Geeze!" I said, throwing an ice cube in his direction.

He retaliated by throwing two ice cubes at me. I took a pillow nearby and flung it as hard as I could in his direction. The only problem was that it hit Yamato-niisan instead. Oops.

"Could you guys be any more childish? You're already 16! So behave like a 16 year old!" he mumbled.

I opened my mouth in disbelief. "Look who's talking! You're the guy who wears boxers with little golf balls all over them! And you're supposed to be 24! If that's not childish, I don't know what is."

"Hey! That's not childish! And how did you know I had those boxers? Were you looking through my things?" Yamato-niisan asked, his face flushing red with embarrassment.

"Yamato-niisan, you're forgetting something aren't you? While you're staying here Oba-san does your laundry. And where does she dry the laundry? Out in the backyard where everyone can see!" I replied, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

"Aren't you guys going out tonight? Like, don't you all have dates or social events that you have to attend?" Naruto asked.

Both Kakashi-niisan and Yamato-niisan exchanged glances.

"Nope. We have nowhere to go tonight. No dates. No nothing. Nada. So that means you're stuck with us," my brother answered, giving us a small smile.

I looked over at my brother, feeling a little bit sad. The only reason why he hardly ever dated nowadays was because most of the girls who were interested in him, or pretended to be interested in him, had always one eye on his wallet. And they always left him to pick up the pieces of their relationship.

"I know what you're thinking, little girl, and I'm fine," Kakasahi-niisan said, looking over at me and pushing my forehead backwards with his finger.

"Geeze! Why does everyone keep pushing my forehead backwards? I know that it's the most prominent part of my face but you do know that each time you do that, I get a bit dumber, don't you? Are you all trying to make me dumber or something? Because it sure feels like it!" I said, whacking a pillow at my brother's face.

"You did not just do what I think you did," Kakashi-niisan warned.

I whacked the pillow in his face over and over again. Suddenly, he grabbed it from me and held it threateningly over me.

"PILLOW FIGHT!"

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We entered class the next day, feeling beaten. Who knew that both Kakashi-niisan and Yamato-niisan actually had so much energy in them? They were already in their 20's, for goodness sake! They weren't supposed to be able to jump around so much. Instead, they were supposed to be complaining about their backs and how youngsters these days were such a rowdy bunch… or… maybe not. But still!

"Dude, what happened to you?" asked Zaku, one of our classmates.

"Oh, uh, I fell down the stairs," Naruto muttered.

"And you dragged Sakura down with you?" piped up Dosu, looking at my jaw.

"No! Of course I didn't!" protested Naruto. "What do you think I am? A cow?"

"Then what happened to your face, Sakura?" Kin questioned.

"I walked into a door," I mumbled.

I could hear a few snickers around me, coming from the girls. I didn't really mind that most girls had not warmed up to me yet because at least, there were some people who had started to be nicer to me.

"Let me get this straight. You walked into a… door?" says Kin.

"Yes," I said defiantly. "I did. Anyway, I've got to get going now." I turned away from them and sighed. I don't want them to know what really happened. What I want is for this issue to stop once and for all.

I headed towards my desk, stumbling a little, and dropped my books onto the table, slumped into my seat and laid my head down. That was when I saw it.

There, right next to me on the table lay a single rose, with its petals in full bloom.

I jolted myself upright again and stared openmouthed at the rose. I racked my brain trying to figure out who could have sent me the flower. Coming up with nothing, I surveyed the classroom, carefully noting everyone's expression lest it was a prank that somebody wanted to play on me. Much to my surprise, nobody paid any attention to me. All of them were busy with their own work, namely copying yesterday's assignment from their friends before class starts. Could it have been Naruto or one of his friends? I looked over in their direction, raising my eyebrows at what they were doing. Nah, I concluded. It couldn't have been either one of them. I mean, guys who drew on other peoples' faces while they are asleep wouldn't exactly give roses to a girl. It just wasn't their style.

I fingered the petals of the rose gently. I lifted it up, only to discover a very small slip of paper hidden underneath the petals of the rose. Filled with curiosity, I unfolded the paper and read what was inscribed on it.

_Sorry._

My eyes widened at what I read. Well, that narrows it down to one person, didn't it? I was certain that it could not have been Karin because, one, as I was surveying the classroom, I had noticed that the witch herself was missing in action and that her seat was empty. And two, nobody knew what had happened to both Naruto and I yesterday after school. If Karin was present, the whole school would have known about it by now. There was no doubt about it. It was from _him_.

Uchiha Sasuke.

tbc

**NEED HELP:**

Uhm… I kinda need a little help. I'm sort of confused on which surname to use, since Sakura and Kakashi are supposed to be bro and sis in this story. Should I use Haruno or Hatake? Or… how about I fuse them together and say, Harutake or Hataruno? Your opinions would be very much appreciated!


End file.
